Christopher Taylor trial will now start in October
AUSTIN, Texas - After an afternoon meeting, the Christopher Taylor murder trial has a new start date of October 16. 2023.
The defense attorneys also made clear to the judge they want this trial moved to a different county.
Christopher Taylor is accused of shooting and killing Michael Ramos unjustifiably during a 2020 officer-involved shooting.
The new trial date in October will begin with jury selection. Judge Dayna Blazey says a new batch of 100 potential jurors will be brought in that day and each side will have two hours to question the group. Her hopes are to have a jury of 14 picked from the group of 100, but there will be 200 extra potential jurors available in the following two days just in case.
This comes after the trial was already set to begin three weeks ago, but a mistrial motion made by the defense team scrapped that progress. The judge approved the motion because the previous jury selection process failed to get a jury of 14 after four days and the defense team claimed jury intimidation.
The defense plans to file another motion next Friday. The motion will be for a change of venue. The defense team wants the murder trial to be moved to a different county.
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According to the defense team, Travis County has only granted a total of three motions for a change of venue in the last 40 years. Before a judge makes a decision for this case, there will be a hearing as to why this case should or should not be moved.
The state told the judge they also plan to file their own motion. It will be a limited gag order that they say was sparked by the defense team’s alleged social media activity made against the District Attorney’s Office.